For anyone who is concerned about the cost of buying a lot of essential oil and how much we will be using, I put together this list. I thought that it might help you decide what to go ahead and chose of the listed choices knowing what you will need later on. I went through the book tonight looking at what we'll be doing. We're going to be making our own oils and incense. Several of the days are just the recipe and making the items. Other days we will use what we made. I know that part of the experience is actually making it especially if you've never made it before. I haven't. However, I would think that if you absolutely do not have the money to buy many essential oils that you really could just buy olive oil or rosemary essential oil and use it for everything as a substitute instead of making them all. And then perhaps find a good incense that is pretty generic and make and use it instead of all the different ones. I may have to do some of that. If you don't have the money, then you don't have the money. But if you want to do it by the book and make sure everything is at its full magical potential and get the full experience of the exercises, then this is what you will end up needing throughout the year.
Towards the bottom of the list, it starts saying use what you made on a certain day. If you are out, you will have to remake or use the suggested substitute listed on days 241+. I would think that the oils we make would be enough to last through the whole year unless you use them for a lot of other stuff perhaps. If you have to remake incense, it will be about half of the listed essential oils required for a certain day. The other half is to make the oil.
ESSENTIAL OIL LIST:Days 30-60Day 51: chamomile, clove, cinnamon, bergamot OR rosemary (enough to anoint yourself 7 times)
Day 52: cucumber, rose, hyssop, lily OR nutmeg (enough to anoint yourself 7 times)
Days 60-90Day 76: pine (enough to anoint an object once a month)
OPTIONALDay 77: 9 drops pine, 12 drops rosemary & 4 drops bay
Day 90: 12 drops myrrh, 6 drops basil, 4 drops bay
Days 91-120Day 105: 8 drops honeysuckle, 6 drops rose, 4 drops jasmine
Day 108: a few drops of rose
Day 114: 4 drops rose, 3 drops apple, 2 drops jasmine, 1 drop lavender
Days 121-150Day 121: 14 drops rose, 3 drops rosemary
Day 125: cinnamon (enough to smear an object)
Day 126: chamomile (enough to rub around the edge of a square piece of paper)
OPTIONALDay 131: chamomile (enough to anoint yourself)
Day 136: 10 drops cedar, 6 drops carnation, 6 drops cinnamon
Day 146: 10 drops patchouli, 4 drops rosemary
Days 151-180Day 161: 7 drops patchouli, 6 drops sage, 3 drops myrrh, 2 drops rose
Day 169: 20 drops lavender, 3 drops bergamot, 2 drops eucalyptus
Day 170: use what you made on day 169
Day 176: 8 drops bay leaf, 10 drops cinnamon, 10 drops clove
Day 177: use what you made on day 176
Day 179: a few drops of jasmine
Days 181-210Day 186: 20 drops jasmine, 5 drops cucumber
Day 187: use what you made on day 186
Day 193: 11 drops lilac, 7 drops patchouli, 3 drops pine
Day 194: use what you made on day 193
Days 211-240Day 219: use what you made on day 176
Day 223: use what you made on day 187
Day 227: use what you made on day 193
Day 233: use what you made on day 176
Day 234: use what you made on day 169
Day 235: use what you made on day 169
Days 241-270Day 244: lavender, rosemary OR hyssop OR any essential oil you choose (enough to anoint & draw small pentagram)
Day 248: use what you made on day 176 OR cinnamon, bergamot, clove, orange OR pennyroyal
Day 249: use what you made on day 169 OR bergamot, sage, star anise OR lemon
Day 250: use what you made on day 186 OR apple, jasmine, rose OR water lily
Day 251: use what you made on day 193 OR patchouli, honeysuckle, tulip OR lilac
Day 267: rosemary (enough to rub around the edge of a square piece of paper)
Days 310-366:Day 361: 3 drops patchouli, 1 drop cinnamon, 3 drops eucalyptus, 10 drops vetiver OR iris
***A Word To the Wise***
Essential oils are viscous distillations of various fragrant herbs and flowers. The sense of smell is powerful; fragrance experts believe essential oils produce and effect called "aromachology," a psychological effect of ambient odors. Some scents are believed to deeply influence psychological, physical, and spiritual change.
***PLEASE NOTE***
To allow yourself the true effect and the strongest outcome, make sure that what you're buying is, in fact, an ESSENTIAL oil. If the bottle says anything else (oil extract, perfume oil, etc), then it is not true essential oil.
Essential oils are present in many (not all) plants and herbs. In order to be extracted from the plant, there is an involved distillation process. Simply soaking in a carrier oil for a few weeks is not adequate. One of the ways to know for sure is that essential oils will be a little pricier because the process is so involved. Rose essential oil is EXTREMELY expensive for the simple fact that it takes a very large amount of roses to produce a very small amount of essential oil.
Plant material simply soaked in a carrier oil (like jojoba oil) is a waste of time (and money) unless you're just using it as perfume. With true essential oils, you only use a very small bit (perhaps a drop) so you don't have to purchase them frequently. However, the initial purchase can be a little pricey, depending on the type of plant it is from.